The invention relates to salvaging machines for web materials having punched holes along at least one edge such as continuous business forms. More particularly, the invention relates to an improved splicing arrangement for quickly and accurately performing splices on a web which will not interfere with the usefulness of the printed forms adjacent the splice.
Business forms of the continuous type used in computer processing are generally assembled in very large and expensive collators which feed together, from a series of supply rolls, the paper and carbon paper which will make up the individual parts of the completed forms, fasten the various sheets together and then perforate and deliver the finished forms, usually in a fan-fold arrangement. Because of the very high capacity and cost of the collators a tremendous expense is involved when the collator must be stopped in order to cut a bad portion out of a supply roll and splice the resulting ends together again. It is most desirable to be able to supply only perfect supply rolls to a collator. However, it is quite common for the printed supply rolls to not be perfect due either to defects in the paper or unevenness or other problems with the printing on the paper. These defects are usually noted when the supply roll is printed and the printer will insert "printer's flags" into the web as it is being wound to indicate the areas of bad material which should later be removed from the roll. It is the purpose of salvage machines, which are quite inexpensive compared to collators, to permit repair of printed rolls by splicing out the bad materials. Such machines can also splice together a number of short or "butt" rolls into a larger roll usable on a collator. Since the continuous web fed to a collator comprises a series of individual forms which are ultimately perforated crosswise on a line defining their respective top and bottom edges, it is very important that the splice be made on the precise line which separates two forms. This is done so that the forms will remain in register and so that there will be no chance for the splice to interfere with the material being printed on the form as the form later passes through a computer printer. For this reason, and also from an esthetic desire not to have a splice appear on the face of a form, it is preferable that the splice be applied to the back surface of the form.
Although I am not aware of any patents disclosing salvage machines for edge perforated paper webs which include vacuum splicing tables, the following United States patents have been noted which relate to various splicing arrangements for films and other types of web material: U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,781,200; 2,213,744; 2,664,139; 2,711,782; 2,740,461; 3,447,994; 3,709,759; 3,773,598 and 3,957,567. U.S. Pat. No. 3,776,795 shows a paper punching arrangement for splicing together the last set of business forms in a fan-fold stack passing through a computer printer to the first form in a new stack so as to eliminate down time of the printer.